


Twelve of Many

by EchoGalen



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, AvaLance, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I think that's their ship name they were canon in s3 so here it is, Legends of Tomorrow Team are Family, SteelVixen, clone club - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-17 13:31:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17561342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EchoGalen/pseuds/EchoGalen
Summary: It was supposed to be a regular anachronism in 2213. Get in, get out, easy peasy. But when Rip Hunter storms onto the deck of the Waverider and begins yelling orders, Sara knows things are not going to be that simple. Turns out that was an understatement of the year. Ava's a clone, and not just any clone but one that is the twelfth- yet not. Things are shifting, changing in the dark of time, and if Ava doesn't learn who or what she is soon, the Legends may not survive.





	1. The Clone Club and Ava Sharpe

**Author's Note:**

> Oh wow, look at this. So I'm really excited for this fic, and it's been a long while since I've had such passion to pursue a long running exploit. I really hope you enjoy and are excited to see where this goes! (I know I sure am lol)
> 
> (Shout out to noturgirlxxx.tumblr.com and oooolookashinything.tumblr.com AND fvandomtrvsh.tumblr.com- and you can find them here on Ao3 too- for individually betaing this first chapter as well as helping me with the summary as well as the title. You didn't think I came up with an awesome Borg/Collective title on my own, did you??? Or did you think I could even get this into a cohesive story that I could bring you guys without tearing my hair out for months without them??? Check them out, they're super dope!!!)
> 
> Ratings will change if things get steamy, and seeing as Ava's gonna def need some comfort, I see it happening eventually as the story unfolds. But for now we're takin it slow and steady, and by all means we're earning that title of slow burn- amiright??? Maybe not... not really.
> 
> Anywho! I hope you all enjoy!

Captain Sara Lance had her fingers curled into her girlfriend’s honey blonde hair as she read. The low hum of the time ship she had come to call home was excellent background noise to keep her brain focused on the pages. Sara was reading one of her girlfriend’s favorite books, and she was just at the part where Elphaba completely demolished a dinner party and their small minded ways when a chime resounded in her room.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, Captain,” Gideon, the AI for the entire ship, said. Her tone, while perpetually holding a higher octave when she spoke to appear more chipper, did seem genuinely unhappy.

Sara’s brow furrowed and she placed the book onto her lap opposite her girlfriend’s head, her thumb creasing between the pages. “What’s up, Gideon?”

“We seem to have a level 2 anachronism on our hands. I have already alerted the team.”

“Ya don’t say,” Sara breathed, letting her head fall back onto the cushion of her headboard. Her face scrunched as she breathed out heavily, looking down at her sleeping girlfriend and the book she was now over halfway done with. Wiggling her fingers through hair in a different pattern, Sara moved her body slightly so that the taller woman laying on her stomach would ease out of sleep slowly. “Hey,” Sara cooed, her fingers scratching through hair, “wakey, wakey.”

Director Ava Sharpe groaned, pulling the covers down onto her face from Sara’s chest to hide. She curled her legs to her chest, making herself as small as possible, before a few seconds passed and her breath came out languidly again. Sara chuckled and verbally denied her girlfriend’s sleep with a flurry of “no’s” before she gently peeled back the cover. Ava’s lip jutted out in a pout as she looked up to Sara, her eyes drooping with sleep and her fingers pinching the fringe of the captain’s shirt.

“Level 2,” Sara responded to the questioning gaze of her girlfriend.

Ava groaned again, her next pinch a little harder than the last, and she remarked, “The agents can deal with a level 2. How about we stay here?”

“You just want to go back to sleep,” Sara laughed.

“On you!”

A scoff left Sara’s lips, an offended look going across her face before she completely broke character and giggled. “I am so much more than a pillow!”

Ava snickered before an excited yelp left her throat as Sara bucked her off her stomach and was suddenly on top of her. Her laughs broke into soft moans as her girlfriend’s lips were on her neck, kissing and licking before she brought Ava into a kiss. Before it could deepen the door to Sara’s room flew open and Ray Palmer walked in and immediately shielded his eyes.

“Oh my god, Captain! I’m so sorry, we were… um...” Ray stammered, turning his back to the women.

Sara practically growled and Ava sighed. The shorter woman got off her bed and quickly got her clothing on while Ava watched with a hand on her head. Instead of her white canary uniform, Sara put on a tight black shirt that covered a portion of her neck, and blue jeans. She grabbed a wool jacket but did not put it on, and blew a kiss at the director before planting a hand onto Ray’s back and pushed him out of the room. One last wink from the captain and Ava was alone.

The director sighed and groaned, getting up and portaling home so she could get a good night’s sleep. Going into the office for a level 2 was not something on her priority list, and she had full belief in her girlfriend and the team of the Waverider to deal with it.

“We can totally deal with this,” Nate Heywood remarked as he looked to the holographic imaging of the anachronism.

Amaya smiled kindly at her off again, on again lover. “Without any screw ups.” When Nate finger gunned her, the woman shook her head and looked back at the anachronism map the man had devised. “It’s not an outlier but it appears with a small push it could have become one.”

At that moment an arguing Sara and a defensive Ray walked onto the deck. Sara hit his shoulder and flicked her fingers to her eyes then to him before throwing her coat onto the center console. The man gulped and moved to his usual spot beside Nate. Ray shook his head at the questioning look his friend was giving him, and looked at the captain.

“What do we got, team?” Sara asked.

Zari walked out of the den with a bag of popcorn in hand, and when Sara turned back to watch her come closer she could see Mick in a chair drinking. “Blip in 2213,” she said simply through chews.

“Ms. Tomaz is correct,” Gideon chimed. Where usually there would be something the anachronism had changed on the feed there was only the same old map of time fractures, and Sara cocked her head.

“Alright, Gideon, this is the part where you show us what got screwed up,” the captain said, folding her arms across her chest. “I know we’ve never had a fracture this far into the future before but it had to change something significant to become a level 2, right?”

“That is right, Captain Lance. However, I do not appear to be able to pull up any information on the time period.”

Right on queue the holographic image of the anachronism map went dark and a red flashing light appeared in its place accompanied by a screeching wail. The crew shielded their eyes, exclaiming in their unique ways before Sara yelled for Gideon to turn it down. The flashing lights and the high pitched noise swiftly shut off, causing the crew to massage their ears and shake their heads.

“What just happened,” Mick growled from his chair, finally getting up and walking into the room.

“I think I can explain,” Rip Hunter yelled as he walked through a time portal onto the ship. He was met with disinterested and annoyed looks, which caused him to raise his hands in submission. Clapping them together, he pointed towards the silenced message on the console. “I programmed that to go off whenever anyone tried to garner any information from the year 2213.”

Ray looked at the warning and questioningly repeated what it said, “Access denied, no-fly zone?”

Rip nodded solemnly, looking to the crew. When they continued to glare at him as if he had not answered anything- which he hadn’t- he sighed aggressively and waved his hand. “I have sanctioned that year a no-fly zone.”

“Well tough,” Sara replied, thrumming her fingers onto the console. “We got an alert there’s an anachronism there and we intend to go. So how about you make it accessible again?”

“An anachronism has appeared there?” Rip questioned, his eyes flicking from Sara’s to the holographic warning. He laughed and shook his head. “No, time fractures have only appeared in the past. It is unprecedented that they would appear so far into the future.”

“Well it did,” Nate said, bulking his chest as he tried to sound aggressive. The animosity he still felt towards Rip was relevant even now, and he looked to Amaya before pointedly at Rip. “So what are you trying to hide now?”

Rip was silent for an uncharacteristically long time as he looked to each of the Legends. He came further into the room, now right beside Sara before he whispered, “If we do this you must promise me Director Sharpe will not be contacted.”

Sara quirked her brow, looking the man over. “Why’s that?”

“Captain Lance, please! I will explain everything in due time, but I will not sanction this mission without your word.”

“I thought only a Time Bureau Director could ascend something like this,” Ray chimed. He awkwardly smiled before he shrugged. “Gary told me once.”

“What are you doing hanging out with Gary?” Nate asked accusingly.

“Enough,” Sara yelled, sighing heavily. She glared back at Rip and continued, “Is that true? Can only the Director-”

“No,” Rip said, cutting her off promptly. “Well, yes. But while Director Sharpe has scrambled the access codes, I still have them for my own time courier.”

“Of course you do...” Sara’s jaw tightened before she said, “We’re not all going through that.”

“No, but I will take two of you.” Rip looked to Sara and nodded, before towards the rest of the team. “Captain Lance will come, of course. And I would elect Mr. Palmer as well.”

“M-me?” Ray said, smiling happily and pointing at himself.

Nate rolled his eyes and dejectedly groaned, “Come on, Ray...”

“Sorry.. Why am I going?”

Rip shook his head as if he was contemplating exactly that question. “Because if all else fails we’ll need a scientist there.”

Ray was fine with that answer, lifting up the case that held his Atom suit and nodded. He moved across the console, giving a high five to Nate for good luck as he did, before he stood behind both Rip and Sara. The time agent cleared his throat and turned, pressing a few keys on his time courier before a portal opened in front of them to a pristine white room. Sara quickly gave a few orders for those left on the ship to stay firmly put, before she walked through the portal with the two men after putting on her coat.

She looked around the room quickly, making sure there were no threats present, before her brow quirked and she looked at all the bodies covered with sheets and the cylinders filled with blue liquid scattered around. “You brought us to a morgue?”

Rip shook his head, turning to the woman with a more serious look than usual on his features. “Sara, I need you to listen very carefully to me. There is a good reason 2213 is denied to all agents at the Bureau. No one can know that-”

“Ava’s a clone!” Ray expostulated. The captain made a face, turning to look away from Rip before the man continued, “No, seriously, look.”

Sara walked quickly to Ray’s side, her brow furrowed as wariness wrapped around her like a vice. He was standing in front of a circular device with a raised platform in the middle of it and he had a control panel in his hand. He flicked over something that looked like human body parts, before multiple lights filled the chamber of the circle. Sara saw feet first, before the light cascaded upward, literally creating flesh and vessels and bone. It went so fast the moment she saw the face peering aimlessly ahead caught her off guard and she sucked in a breath.

Ava. It was Ava staring at nothing, her hands to her side and her expression blank. Sara shook her head, turning toward one of the bodies underneath a sheet and stomped over to it. Without thinking, she tore back the cover and was met with her girlfriend again. Well, not quite. The thing in front of her was sleeping, or maybe in hibernation that was for sure, but while she had Ava’s face there was no way she could have actually been her. Sara’s Ava was safely back in her room on the Waverider, or even in her own bed in DC. She wasn’t in 2213 and she certainly was not sleeping underneath a damn sheet.

Sara whirled on Rip, fury in her gaze, and she moved on him threateningly. She pinned her forearm onto his neck, his back hitting the creation console, before she yelled, “What the hell is going on here, Rip?”

The former captain had his arms raised in submission by his sides. “I believe Mr. Palmer already said.” When the arm choking him pressed a little tighter, he elaborated, “The Ava you know is not an anachronism but a woman logically displaced 200 years ago by my hand. I needed a perfect agent, one made by the best genes around the world, and one that already had combative programming that made soldiers training for years to be put to shame.”

“You used this as your farm,” Ray said, looking from the pad in his hands to his captain and Rip.

“Yes, I did. To find an agent that has all the skills I could ever ask for, and to also have the luxury of having an exponential source of that is-”

“I gave you a chance after those agents,” Sara seethed, her arm pressing dangerously closer to cutting off Rip’s air supply. “I asked Ava to make you an agent again, to _trust_ you again, and this entire time- this whole time- you’ve been lying to her and to everyone around you!”

“That may be so,” Rip choked out, glaring daggers at Sara, “but without Director Sharpe many more agents would have died. Without her leadership, without her programming, the anachronisms would have gotten worse before they got better. And without you, Sara, she would have never felt any emotion and could have never become what she is now.”

The anger in Sara cascaded out of her in waves, forcing itself to the surface without any hope of stopping it. Her jaw tightened, the idea of killing her mentor so clear in her mind, before she willed that fury away deep inside of herself. She released Rip, stepping away from him before running a hand through her hair. Rage melted through her at her will to finally end the pain and suffering this man had caused so many, but she stayed her hand and tried to think logically.

After a moment she spoke again, “Does she know this? Does she remember this place?”

“No,” Rip replied, soothing his neck for a moment. “I erased her memory the moment we left.”

“How many of her did you go through?”

A pause. “Before this Ava, eleven other clones lost their lives.”

“Eleven,” Sara breathed, a humorless chuckle leaving her throat. “Eleven Ava’s… What made the twelfth so different?”

“I changed the formula when I came back the twelfth time, Sara. Ava is-”

“You are in violation of bylaw 575,” a commanding, if not familiar tone resounded in the room, cutting Rip off and making them jump. All three Legends turned towards Ava who was sitting up, her feet dangling from the gurney, and her face serious. It was the same one Sara had yanked the sheet off of, and she wondered if she had accidentally woken it up, or if it was Ray with the control pad. “You do not have clearance to be in this room.”

“It seems you have woken one up,” Rip whispered, his hand moving behind him slowly.

Ray nervously laughed, shrugging his shoulders as he tried to come up with a good excuse. “Um, oh wow, this isn’t the right building! Silly us, if you would just let us go we’ll find our way back.”

The clone stepped closer, her hands fell behind her back just as Ava’s did, and she stopped a few feet away from the trio. “If I let you go, I have to let everyone go. You must be terminated.”

Just as Ava threw a punch, Rip moved Sara out of the way and blasted the clone with the mind eraser. The clone dropped like a rag doll, neither Sara or Ray being able to move fast enough to catch her. The captain glared at Rip before nodding her head towards Ray, implying for him to help move the clone back to its table. When that was over she came back to the agent, her hands on her hips. Ray was fidgeting with the panel again, and Sara rolled her eyes.

“Don’t wake up another one,” she commanded before turning her attention on her former mentor. “Now you’re going to explain everything.”

“There’s no time. I’ve come here twelve times, Sara, I know what their response time is by now.” Rip was almost frantic, his movements sharper and more erratic as he spoke. “We have to go.”

“We haven’t found out what the anachronism is yet,” both Sara and Ray said. In any other situation they probably would have given each other a fist bump, but with Rips increasing look of fear they held off.

“You don’t understand, this is the future, the anachronism is literally us.”

“How could we create an anachronism by coming here when the only reason we came here is because we found a fracture in this time,” Sara yelled.

“I took something out of its time and place, something that would have gone unnoticed in the sea of others, if I had not come back, Sara.” Boot stomps progressively got louder as he spoke, his gaze flicking back to the adjacent room they were coming from. He shook his head, looking back to his former crew. His hand went to his wrist, trying to conjure up a time window back to the Waverider, but felt only flesh. Sara backed away from him, his time courier between her fingers, and he shook his head. “Sara, if you leave me here they will kill me.”

“But the anachronism would be fixed, right?”

“Sara,” Ray said warningly.

“You know that wouldn’t be true,” Rip replied, stepping closer to the woman. “If anything my body being found here, no ID, no fingerprints in any database inside of a famously maximum secured building such as this, could have incomprehensible outcomes to this future as well as your present.”

“So what you’re saying is the reason this anachronism started is because I just-” Sara stopped herself as the sound of a portal sounded beside her. She looked through it to see the empty command deck of her ship, “-created a portal and left your ass here. Sounds about right.”

Ray quickly ran to the portal, putting his hand up to stop Sara from moving through it. When the death glare was thrown onto him, the scientist chuckled again and said, “Look, Sara, I think it would be a sick form of justice for the Ava clones to tear him apart for what he did to our Ava. But I know you don’t want to do this, and I know you don’t want to make this worse.”

Sara waited a moment before sighing heavily, stamping her foot on the ground and waving her hand towards Rip. “Yeah, dummy, of course I wasn’t going to leave him here- I just wanted to make him sweat! God, Ray,” she groaned.

The amount of sunshine lighting up Ray’s face was vomit inducing and he was far too chipper when he said, “Oh right, just makin’ him sweat. I knew that. Oh my God!”

The captain turned as Rip yelled, an Ava clone latching onto his shoulder and hurling him backwards. She was dressed like the others that filtered into the room: protective headgear with a black zippered jacket, and dark pants. Sara immediately leapt into action, the time portal closing behind Ray as she did. She dove head first at the clone that had thrown Rip backward, catching it in the unmasked face and dropping her instantly.

“I think that’d be ‘Oh my Ava,’” she called back to Ray, dodging a hook before using her momentum to swing a roundhouse kick to a clone’s gut.

Ray did not have time to respond with a quip of his own and instead used his own height and weight against an attacking clone, throwing it off balance before landing a punch. The clone crumbled and the scientist looked quite pleased with himself, usually forgoing battles without his suit equipped. It was nice to know he still had it in him but as more clones filtered into the room with no end in sight, he became nervous. Rip and Sara were faring just the same, taking down multiple clones either with their bare hands or with an energy revolver. The more bodies they dropped, however, the more Avas filtered into the space they occupied.

“We got a plan?” Ray called, barely getting out of the grip from two clones.

“Working on it!” Sara called back, recovering from a punch to the face before superman kicking a clone away from her. It knocked into a few more clones and gave her a little breathing room, but before she could turn and create a portal home, another appeared in its place. “What the-”

Sara’s heart dropped to the floor when her Ava Sharpe calmly walked out of the portal and stopped dead at the sight before her. Her brow furrowed in what was usually a cute show of confusion, but now it only made Sara desperate to get to her girlfriend. That, however, was going to be difficult as when she turned a hand wrapped around her wrist and pulled her body into a curled punch to her stomach. It knocked the wind completely out of her, and she knew she would have a fractured rib from the attack. Before she could recover a flurry of punches and kicks found soft flesh, and Sara gritted her teeth and caught as many as she could.

It was far from enough.

“Sara,” the real Ava called frantically from the fringe of the battle at hand.

Sara could only see glimpses of her, the sea of clones blocking much of her view as they weaved around to capture and eradicate their targets. She tried to move toward Ava inch by inch, all the while trying to block or dodge attacks given to her. She had been in situations before where she had to drop over five people, but this was a stretch! By the time she would successfully block one or two of the clones, a third and fourth were punching or kicking her in bruised ribs. She sputtered, holding her side as she tried to move backwards, but strong arms pinned her in place as they wrapped underneath her arms. She was a literal punching bag waiting to be used, Sara seethed as she saw the rush of clones coming her way. She gritted her teeth, prepared for the onslaught that would no doubt lead to her death, when she heard a loud scream of her name and suddenly there was stillness.

The clones suddenly parted after letting go of the Legends, showing a clear line of sight to the real Ava holding out her hand to them with a distraught and confused look on her face. In unison the clones turned their heads towards her, letting their bloodied hands fall behind their back, as they stood at attention. Sara coughed, trying to control her breathing, when she saw Ray crumpled on the ground bleeding profusely from lacerations to his face. She tried to move to him but her body didn’t want to comply, instead falling to its knees as it lost all strength.

“Sara,” Ava called again, running through the neat row and skidding to a stop next to her girlfriend. “Oh my God, oh my God, my love.” Ava’s soft hands held Sara’s cheeks, trying hard not to touch the cuts and bruises making welts upon it.

“A-Ava, I can explain,” Sara ground out, her side absolutely burning and making her lose her train of thought. Out of the corner of her eye she saw an injured Rip crawl his way to Ray’s side, tending to him as best he could. She saw the tall man stir, and she let her body finally relax into Ava’s touch.

“Stop, baby. I’m going to get you help. Sara, listen to me- you’re going to be okay!”

Sara didn’t understand why Ava was repeating herself so much, she just wouldn’t stop. Blackness enveloped her for a moment before her conscious mind registered blinding lights and Ava’s beautiful face. She realized she had been talking, repeating that she would explain everything to her girlfriend, before she lost consciousness again. It was Sara who wouldn’t stop her ceaseless mantra, trying to assuage Ava when she was the one so badly injured she could not stay conscious and focused. She heard herself repeating it again when pain shot through her body and she gasped. Ava had tried to move her, that much was certain, but at her response had stopped for a moment and looked down concerned.

“I’m going to get you help,” Ava affirmed. “I’m going to get you help.”

It was at that moment Sara Lance finally lost consciousness for the last time that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really, really, REALLY hope you enjoyed. I'm hoping to keep this ongoing with my smut fic, but I'm sure I'll have more interest in one or the other depending on how I'm feeling that day.
> 
> Thank you for all your support, and I couldn't do this without you guys being so nice and kind and just amazing people. Thank you all and until next time my Avalance patooties!


	2. The One and Only You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ava Sharpe managed to get the Legends back home to safety, getting them drugged up and out of the woods almost by herself. Now she must decide what she will do with the knowledge that she is a nobody amongst millions, and decide once and for all if her relationship with Sara Lance can continue.
> 
>  
> 
> Shout out to noturgirlxxx.tumblr.com for thinking of that beautiful title!
> 
> I really hope you guys enjoy. I'm having a blast with these emotions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was just playing with my imagination and everything got SO intense.

Ava Sharpe’s hands were firmly behind her back as she paced, wringing hard into one another. The lab came to her in undesired flashbacks, her mind forcibly pulled back to what she had seen, and the reason of why her girlfriend was laying more battered and bruised than Ava had ever seen her in the med bay. She had been at the cusp of sleep only the day before when her time courier blared at her from the side table. Ava groggily woke, flinging her hand to grasp it, before getting a holofeed from Gary. To make it more simple to communicate to agents when she was not at work, she had created the same holoimaging system the Waverider used and incorporated it into her home.

“Director Sharpe,” the man squeaked.

The holoimage stood just off of Ava’s bed, and the woman was happy she usually wore clothes when her girlfriend wasn’t in the house. “What is it, Gary?”

Either Gary didn’t understand that it was far into the night and any normal person would be sleeping, or he had been within the Time Bureau’s walls for far too long and didn’t realize what time it was. He looked Ava over and cocked his head, trying to figure out why she was only wearing a tank top, but shook the thoughts from his mind. “Director, there was a level 2 anachronism that we had given to the Legends!”

Ava’s body immediately went rigid, her hand that had been scratching through her hair thudded back onto the bed as she steadied herself. Her tone, which had been thick with sleep, was now commanding as she asked, “I’m aware of it. Why are you telling me now?”

“Because it’s moved from a level 2 to a level 9! We’re trying to look for historical records but everything from 2213 has been blocked.”

“By whom?” Ava was already up, flicking her eyes warningly to Gary to make him turn around, before she quickly got on her uniform.

The time agent was silent for a moment until Ava turned back, fully dressed, and looked at him incredulously. “Former… Director Rip Hunter,” Gary said slowly, biting his lip and squeezing his eyes shut- perhaps trying to prepare for Ava yelling at him. He then spoke quickly when the annoyance did not come, making it increasingly difficult to understand him, “We couldn’t get anything from the records, but we did get a warning that an illegal time courier was used to portal to the time zone. We traced it to agent Hunter.”

“Send me the coordinates immediately. I’m going after them.”

Gary nodded, the holoimage dissipating and a few moments later Ava’s time courier beeped with the location: Vancouver, 2213. She quirked her brow and breathed deeply, trying to calm her annoyance at Rip using government property and then tampering with it, before she opened a portal and walked calmly through. What she had expected was to find the Legends fleeing from something that had caused- a saber tooth tiger that was embiggened or leaving historical documents from the future in this present- but instead her baby blue orbs peered out into a sea of moving inkiness.

She cocked her head, realizing immediately the situation was hostile, before she saw Sara fighting in the mob a ways in. Ava tried to call her name, utterly confused on what was happening, and had actually caught her gaze before it was swallowed up again by the moving masses. Ava set her jaw, ready to jump into the fray, and she let a hand fall hard onto the soldiers’ arms. Swinging them around, she was ready to punch the living daylights out of her, but stopped full when she peered into her own face.

“What,” Ava asked stupidly. Her breathing became erratic, her brow furrowing as she stepped back and lowered her fist to her side. The thing with her face turned back towards the center of the fighting, running into the fray without acknowledging Director Sharpe, and it made the woman gasp heavily as she tried to process what was happening. Why did it have her face? Why were there so many of them? And why were they attacking Sara? Wait, where was Sara?

Director Sharpe craned her neck, the grunts of men finally reaching her as she came back to the noise and chaos of what was around her. She could see Ray being kicked on the ground, blood seeping below him from lacerations across his face. Ava became frantic, hearing Sara’s groans as she was attacked as well, and for a split second the director could see her girlfriend pinned and multiple soldiers running forward to finish her off.

Something snapped inside of Ava then, something that made her run toward the fringe of that army and splay out her hand. “No, Sara, no!” Ava had never heard her voice like that, shrieking with real terror blanketed within.

The sound suddenly warbled out, reminiscent of when she remembered the old buzzing of white noise from the TV set her mother owned every time it was turned on and the picture showed itself slowly. Motion stopped and Ava thought it was some kind of dream. She could hear the machines buzzing away in the background, the sea of black no longer a team of sharks smelling blood in the water as they stood eerily still. Ava could feel the tightness in her chest, breathing heavily as she lowered her arm as she looked to the throes of… herself.

In the middle of them all was a bloodied and broken Sara, and Ava felt her body moving before her conscious mind had caught up to it. She dropped to her knees, skidding to Sara’s side, her hands going up to touch softly against her cheeks. She could feel tears threatening to spill from her eyes and her voice was thick with emotion, “Oh my God, oh my God, my love!”

Sara was smiling that cheeky way she did, her hand straining as it came to clasp onto Ava’s wrist. She was apologizing to Ava, pleading that she could explain everything, to protect herself amongst the crowd. She was losing consciousness, Ava could see it, and the director tried to move her as gently as possible until a sharp gasp came from Sara’s lips. Ava understood Sara and pain had come to an understanding a long time ago, but it was still so odd to see it first hand. With that many bruises and cuts across her, it was a miracle Sara had not screamed when Ava tried to lift her. With that expulsion of air came another endless explanations and pleas as Sara regained consciousness for a moment.

Ava shushed her, waiting until Sara’s slurred words devolved into mumbles before she affirmed, “I’m going to get you help.” More so to herself she repeated, “I’m going to get you help...”

Sara had completely lost consciousness, her eyes drooping closed and her mantra ceased. For a moment, a terrifying suspended second, Ava felt the pit of her stomach fall as her eyes looked over Sara’s body. Frantically pressing two fingers to the captain’s pulse point, Ava waited for a moment before sighing and sniffling, looking up at the still neat rows of soldiers. She gritted her teeth, trying to figure out how she was going to get everyone back to the Waverider. If she created a portal into the med bay, she would have to wait for Gideon to alert the team for them to help. By that time Ray could bleed out completely and Sara…

Ava blinked rapidly, shaking her head as her blood soaked fingers wrapped around her time courier. She punched in the coordinates for the Waverider’s medical room, but before she initiated the jump she looked back into baby blue orbs above her. “You,” she called, her voice stricken. She was again caught off guard as the soldier looked down, somehow knowing it was the one who had been spoken to. “P-pick her up?”

The soldier’s arms swung from around its body, instantly lifting Sara as gently as she could. She cradled her head, her hand going to grasp her thigh, and the soldier stood slowly as not to jar the captain. Ava fumbled with the courier, opening up the window and ordering the soldier to put Sara onto the chair.

“Director Sharpe,” Gideon chimed. Her voice turned inquisitive, “Director Sharpe, what has happened to Captain Lance?”

The soldier did not respond and instead placed Sara onto the chair as softly as she had picked her up. Coming out of the portal, Ava gave the same order for Ray and, now that she saw him, Rip. Before long the real Ava moved through the portal, looking back into her own face, before she closed the window and was left to the white noise of the Waverider.

“Director Sharpe,” Gideon said more forcibly. “What has happened?”

Ava moved quickly, placing the band across all of their wrists so that Gideon could fully read their biological signs and help. The director watched, her closed fist going to her lips to try to stave off her tears, as Gideon did her job. A holoimage of each of their internal damages appeared next to each of them, Ray’s being the worst while Sara- with her vast combat training- was the least. Ava clumsily found the blue mask inside of a cabinet and placed it firmly on the tall man’s face. She didn’t know if it would truly help, but in the reports where multiple lacerations and massive internal bleeding occurred it had always been used. Her guess was that while it looked like an oxygen mask, it facilitated faster chemical absorption from Gideon’s systems. Speaking of the ship.

“Director Sharpe, I implore you to explain.”

“I don’t know, Gideon!” Ava screamed, flinging her arms out before holding her sides. “I’m sorry, I… I don’t know what happened.” She began to pace uneasily, her hands behind her back tightly.

“The Legends have been notified that Captain Lance, Agent Hunter, and Mr. Palmer are in the medical bay. They are also aware that they are all out of the woods and are on their fast way to recovery,” Gideon said. Ava didn’t really know, but she could have sworn the AI sounded just a little bit softer as she spoke. “I have told the Legends that they were saved because of you, Director Sharpe.”

The tears that had been threatening to spill for the past few minutes almost burst forth, and Ava had to rip her teeth into her finger as she held her fist hard against her mouth. She shook her head, clearing her throat before she replied, “Thank you for alerting the team, Gideon.”

“If anything changes, I will notify you. Please, Director Sharpe, go have a stiff drink. I believe you need it.”

Ava snorted out a laugh, shaking her head and swaying her body. What she was craving right now was Sara’s warm body next to hers, strong arms protecting her, making her feel safe. And yet somehow the woman that she had sworn to love, to protect, was lying unconscious at Ava’s own hands. No, they only looked like her, she tried to tell herself. She knew that wasn’t true. She couldn’t turn her brain off that far that she could overlook the mass produced soldiers. What was she? A robot, an android, a walking machine? No.

She was one among many. She was nobody.

 

 

+++

 

 

Ava had not gotten as drunk as she truly wanted to be by the time the next day rolled around. She had excused herself from the den when multiple Legends thought she needed the companionship. Instead of being with her in silence, however, Nate, Ray, and even Zari all tried to speak to her to understand what had happened, and to reassure her that she did everything she could. She had raised her glass to them individually as they arrived, swallowing down a burning shot of scotch, before she regarded a small thanks. She would settle back into her silence, thankful for their company but needing the void of sound to think that they would simply not give her. Eventually she had decided to go to Sara’s room, bottle in hand, to try to find some quiet.

That was probably the worst mistake she could have made.

The familiar surroundings were like daggers to her stomach, the room having been left in the exact same state in which Ava had left it in. She rolled into bed, curling up and making sure the bottle would not spill, as she physically reenacted the scene before Sara was pulled away from her. Ava rubbed the spot Sara had sat in, her fingers brushing over the book she had let her borrow, before the thoughts came filtering through her brain. That was a normal time, a soft time. Now that she knew she wasn't real, things would never be normal again. What did it all mean for her? Who had done this to her?

She rolled her eyes, taking another shot straight from the bottle, as she scowled and raised up. Who had taken her from 2213 five years ago? Who else but the person who introduced her to the Bureau in the first place: none other than Rip Hunter. And it just so happened that man that was once her mentor was lying in a comfy chair getting treated. Ava scrunched her face, trying to let the anger dissolve, and she shook her head. When Rip woke up, that was when she could ask him everything. Right now, she had to stay sane so that she could be ready when-

“Director Sharpe,” Gideon chimed into the room.

“Yes,” Ava practically cried, looking to the ceiling in anticipation.

“I just thought you would like to know that I am pulling Captain Lance from her induced coma. If you leave now, you will make it to the med bay before she awakens.”

Ava was already out the door before the AI had finished speaking, yelling out a quick thanks to Gideon while she did. The director fully ran to Sara’s side, putting down the bottle of scotch by the door, before trying to breathe normally as she walked towards her lover. She grasped Sara’s hand in hers, kissing it softly, before her thumb gently brushed across her freckled forehead.

A teary smile appeared on Ava’s lips as Sara’s eyes slowly fluttered open. She sniffled, wiping away a tear before she choked out, “Hey, baby.”

Sara breathed deeply, looking groggily up towards her girlfriend, before a beautiful grin spread across her features. Her voice was thick with sleep, Gideon still pulling her safely off of the anesthetic, “I had the weirdest dream, Aves.” She made a smug face, closing her eyes before smiling. “Okay, I’ve had this dream before.”

Ava laughed, kissing Sara’s forehead before rubbing her thumb across it again. Her hand played in her hair, her other still holding Sara’s hand in hers. “I bet you have, my love. Let’s not think about that right now… How are you feeling?”

“Like I was hit by a train, a car, and a pack of glow sticks- not in that order.”

“A pack of glow sticks?”

Sara was becoming more aware, her eyes less glassy, as she looked to Ava. She swung her arm over her body, something that took a good amount of effort to do, so she could caress her girlfriend’s cheek in hand. “You’ve never been to a rave before, huh?” When Ava shook her head, Sara continued, “So sometimes, when people get really rowdy, there’s these nets above the dance floor. And these nets can be filled with anything and one night-” Sara cut herself off, chuckling at the punchline before she had delivered it, “-one night my friend had snuck up to the walkway and filled, I’m talking totally filled to the brim, this big ol’ net with glow sticks.” The captain raised her arm away from her body to demonstrate just how big the net was, before pulling it back to her and cupping Ava’s cheek again. She turned onto her side, getting comfortable, so she could see all of her girlfriend. “Well he didn’t realize how hard glow sticks actually were when there were over one hundred coming down on everyone’s head.”

Ava chuckled at Sara’s story, kissing her intermittently between it. Her eyes were red with unshed tears, her throat hoarse as she tried to speak normally, “That sounds like a great, but hurt-y story.”

Sara nodded, closing her eyes and smiling. She made a face, opening her blue orbs and looking to Ava. “Hey, I...” Realization seeped into her features and the captain bolted upward, holding her head at the sudden dizziness and looked to her former mentor and her team member. “Gideon, how are they?”

“Mr. Palmer will take approximately eight more hours to heal completely. Agent Hunter-”

“He’s no longer an agent,” Ava interrupted, her head down, her hands pressed together to create a fist. She had wanted a bit more time with her girlfriend before she remembered what had happened, and now that the cat was out of the bag again…

“-Mr. Hunter will be awake in two hours.”

Sara peered down to Ava, who was not looking at her, and she closed her eyes. “Gideon, I want to know before he wakes up.”

“Of course, Captain Lance.”

“Hey,” Sara cooed, letting her hand gently fall onto Ava’s. Thankfully the director did not pull away and she tried to urge her to look up. When she didn’t, Sara continued, “Let’s get out of here.”

Ava nodded, still refusing to look at Sara, and her gaze remained lowered as the captain led her by the hand out of the room. They walked for a good while, Sara humming a tuneless song, before the women stepped into the library and the captain closed and locked the door. She breathed deeply, picking back up Ava’s hand and lead her further into the room. Scrolls and books filled the area from Nate’s historian practice, but thankfully he was a usually tidy man so the library reflected that as well. Sara guided Ava into a brown wooden chair before she hopped up onto the oak table, her legs going to either side of Ava’s body.

Sara pulled Ava in closer, the chair gliding across the ground, before she cupped the woman’s face and brought her into a kiss. She still held her there when their lips separated, looking into Ava’s eyes as she asked, “Do you remember what I told you here three weeks ago?” Ava shook her head, trying to pull away, but Sara held her tight. “Baby,” Sara gently said, “do you remember?”

Ava took a moment to respond, the whites of her eyes going red again as she held back tears. She had been doing more crying than she had for her entire- what, life? She didn’t have a life! Her voice was husky as she said, “You told me that I saved you.”

The captain nodded, smiling lightly. “Yes, you did, Aves. When the totem took me over, I became what I always feared I was: a monster. And you, my strong, beautiful, amazing woman sat me right where you are now, and sat exactly where I’m sitting, and you told me that I wasn’t that thing. That you would help me fight the darkness inside of me. Do you remember that, baby,” Sara asked, bringing up Ava’s hands and kissing them.

“I’m not those things, Sara,” Ava choked out. “How can you say that I am? I’m not real, I’m not even real!”

“Ava, yes- yes you are. You are as real as I feel about you. You are the same woman I fell in love with, you are the extraordinary woman that fought tooth and nail to becoming the Director of the Time Bureau!”

“My accomplishments are from programming,” Ava spat back, her hands going down to grip the table between Sara’s thighs. She didn’t push away, but she was no longer looking into Sara’s eyes. “Programming that a machine gave me. A machine made me, Sara. I’m n-not real. I'm just a phony, a copy out of millions! I'm a nobody.”

Sara slipped off of the table, soothing her girlfriend as best she could. The tears that had been welling up for the past day, the anger and fear and pain Ava felt finally spilled out of her. She clung to Sara then, clung to her like she was the only thing that could keep her from drowning in that darkened sea.

“A program made Firestorm,” Sara breathed, her eyes closed, her cheek falling onto Ava’s head. “If it wasn’t for a matrix, they would have just been a smart arrogant man and a kid mechanic.”

“It’s not the sa-”

“ATOM was made with programming. Without it Ray Palmer would have been just some optimistic puppy that could barely fight. The totems-” Sara said more forcibly, “were made by magic, a programming we still can’t comprehend. Without it Amaya would be no different than me. A program created all of them, Ava, but it is not who they are. It does not define who they became. You’re right,” Sara continued, shaking her head, still holding Ava close, “it’s not the same. But please, Ava, just as you told me before in this room, please say we can figure this out together.”

Ava wallowed in silence for what felt like hours. Sara rocked her there, singing that tuneless hum, before the director slowly lifted her arms up to latch onto small wrists. Sara allowed herself to be pushed away, Ava’s hands still making contact, and smiled as best she could through her own tears. Ava stood, bending to kiss Sara lightly, deepening it before long. She loved this woman, she truly did. Sara was special, she was unique. Ava knew something was there from the moment she felt the pang of ice inside of her begin to melt in the captain’s presence. Sara changed her programming, this woman in front of her. A woman who still loved her even though she was not real. Even though there was no real her to love. Why would she do that, why would Sara put herself through this for her?

Sara was so patient, so loving, and they stood there and swayed. Ava finally broke it, looking down at her girlfriend, the woman who loved a nobody. She kissed her again, Ava pouring all of her energy, all of her love and care into it, before she pulled away. Ava still held Sara’s cheeks, the director sucking her own before she choked out, “We’ll figure this out together.”

The light in Sara’s eyes twinkled, a teary smile breaking out on her face that seemed to wipe the tears away, as she lifted Ava up suddenly and hugged her tight. She chuckled, sniffling as she did, and she cried, “God, you left me in suspense for so long, jerk!”

Ava chortled, wiggling free of her girlfriend’s grasp before calming her. She pressed her hands onto Sara’s shoulders, looking deep into her eyes and said, “I need you to tell me everything that happened before I got there.”

Sara nodded solemnly, the happiness on her face still evident, but her demeanor changed and she folded her arms. “Well first, let’s talk about Rip Hunter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you enjoyed. I'm going to keep this ongoing with my smut fic, but I'm sure I'll have more interest in one or the other depending on how I'm feeling that day.
> 
> Thank you for all your support, and I couldn't do this without you guys being so nice and kind and just amazing people. Thank you all for the support because WOW it's been amazing hearing from all of you either here or in private. 
> 
> Until next time my Avalance punks!


	3. One Truth and Two Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara recounts the many exploits that the Legends went through with Rip Hunter to her attentive, yet still distraught girlfriend Ava Sharpe. But a certain former captain has woken up, and answers are demanded. And oh yeah, the anachronism just jumped in level!
> 
>  
> 
> (Oh heeyyy, my lovelies, how was your day? I'm not dead! Sorry for the weird absence. Going from posting once every day to dropping off the face of the planet for a week is weird? I hope to get my posting schedule back on track, but it's me and at the moment I'm sick so who knows if that'll happen. I'll try my best for you guys, and with that I really hope you enjoy this chapter! A wonder person named Chan betaed it for me.)

Ava sat and listened intently to the captain as she spoke of Rip Hunter. She seemed to skip over many of their exploits, keeping it short and to the point, but the more serious moments of neglect, possession, or simple coercion were said in detail. The director thought she was too distraught to even feel anger, but that was exactly what coursed through her when Sara went over the story in which Rip had ordered her to kill Professor Stein in Russia. That man was trusted with Sara’s secret, her blood lust and her irreversible view of what she was, and the moment he needed something done that he could not do himself he had thrown the former-assassin under the bus. If Sara had pulled that trigger because of Rip…

The anger stemmed to her own tainted view of her former mentor now, and Ava had to stop her love every so often to catch her breath and have a sip of her drink. Sara would sit opposite of the director, patting and soothing a random spot on Ava’s thigh or back. Ava would nod, giving her girlfriend the go-ahead to continue, and up the energetic captain went. Her hands moved frantically, her body rigid, as she recounted Rip’s exploits and manipulation of the team. The kicker was that he had only been truly in charge for a few months, closer to a year, and he had managed to use every single person of the previous crew. He had been in charge of the Time Bureau for a full 5 years, had been Ava’s mentor for that entire time! She looked up to the man,  _ trusted _ him even, and to think he had only used her for his own gains.

“Hey, did you hear me?” Sara’s low voice pierced the director’s brain.

Ava looked up, humming out a question, before she shook her head. She moved her hand in front of herself dismissively as she said, “Yeah, babe.”

Sara made a smug face, bending her head down, before she asked, “Oh yeah? What did I say?”

The different octave that her voice dipped made Ava smile before she rolled her eyes. “Okay, I have no idea!” When Sara made a finger gun at her before clicking her tongue, Ava giggled before her expression became stoic. She tapped her fingers against the glass and asked, “Sara, was I the first?”

It was like a boulder smacked into Sara’s chest. She set her jaw, both hands went to Ava’s thighs, and she took a long moment to answer. “I think it’s best if Rip tells-”

“Captain Lance,” Gideon interrupted.

It made Ava jump at the intrusion, forgetting for a moment there was an AI aboard, before Sara gave her a small, sad smile and responded, “Yeah, what it is, Gideon?” Her hands were still on Ava’s knees, touching her gingerly as she was distracted by the conversation.

“I thought you would like to know that Mr. Hunter has successfully woken up.”

Sara and Ava bolted up, the director placing down the glass of scotch while the captain’s brow furrowed. “I specifically said  _ ‘before’ _ he wakes up, Gideon!”

The AI sounded indignant, “He gave me a command I could not refuse, Captain.”

“You also said you had divulged all of the codes he set for you.” Sara scowled, rolling her eyes before flicking her head towards the door to Ava. They were on the move, heading out the library before Sara called upward to Gideon, “Where is he now?”

“Mr. Hunter is in the parlor.”

“With a candlestick?” Ava whispered. The way Sara looked at her, a mixture of intrigue and hilarity, made the director shake her head in confusion as they walked. “What?”

“Nothing, I just didn’t peg you as a Clue person,” Sara responded, a smile on her lips.

Something stirred in Ava then, something that caused a sudden shift within her. Before, she would have joked back, telling Sara of her love for serial killers and grisly board games, but now she snapped without thinking, “Yeah, well even nobodies can have favorite movies.”

Sara instantly stopped, pulling on Ava’s arm when she saw the taller woman trying to barrel on. “Whoa, hey,” she said softly. She cupped the director’s face, trying to find her eyes, before she said, “That’s not what I meant, Aves.”

Ava’s body deflated, her hand going up to brush against Sara’s stomach, as she shook her head. “No, I’m sorry, I just...” She breathed deeply, trying to conjure the explanation but it failed her. She stammered, “I-I didn’t mean that.”

“Yes you did,” Sara remarked. Her words did not sting, and they held no bitterness to them. “I can’t even imagine how you feel right now, Ava. I should have been more careful with my words. I’m sorry.”

The director shook her head more forcibly, pulling Sara’s hand away from her cheeks but holding it tightly while her thumb rubbed across skin. “No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. It’s just… you know I’m not normal, and even the implication- even if it really wasn’t one- must have hit a nerve or something.”

Sara nodded, trying to smile again. “So Clue’s your favorite movie, huh?”

“The intrigue, the multiple endings, the murder, how could it not be?” Ava asked as she pulled Sara along.

Thankfully they did not have to go far, because Ava didn’t feel like she was up for the normalcy of telling her girlfriend everything she loved about serial killers and murder plots. Instead, the very not normal thoughts flashed back into Ava’s head as both women walked onto the command deck and into the parlor. Rip’s shoulders were hunched as he stood with his back to the door. His head bent backward as he swallowed a large shot of whiskey, before he turned toward the captain and director and raised his glass. He was completely healed, yesterday’s events missing from his flesh just as it did Sara’s, but the weight of the knowledge everyone in the room now possessed filled the pit stirring deep within them.

Rip’s blue eyes pierced Ava’s, then Sara’s, before he took a deep breath and cocked his head. “So, I assume you have questions.”

“That assumption would be an understatement,” Ava retorted. Her doubt and fear of what Rip could possibly say to her were only slightly pushed down by the power and confidence she gained from Sara being by her side. They played against each other, their dance set in motion with her words, and she wondered which one would eclipse the other.

Rip took another swig from Sara’s whiskey, downing it in one gulp, before moving to the bottle and giving himself a long pour. While he did so, he calmly said, “Ava, what I did was for the best.”

“For the best?” Ava whispered, shaking her head. Her eyes grew bloodshot as she spoke, tears threatening to spill forth but she kept her demeanor as calm as ever. “Five years, Rip. You took me from 2213, erased my memory, and looked into my eyes every day for five years and said nothing. How is that for the best?”

“You’re special, Ava.”

“Then why erase my memory? If I was so special, why not let me keep them, to know who I am.”

Rip slightly stuttered, “I-I thought it would be easier.”

“Easier for you or easier for me?”

He was lost for words again, it was obvious, and the man visibly set his jaw and looked to Sara. “I know you both must hate me, and I accept that, but everything I have done was for the betterment of the timeline. If we are to defeat Mallus and the Darhks, we must work together or suffer in defeat.”

Ava let out a breathy, humorless chortle as she said, “Well, the good news from that is if I die, you can just skip back off to 2213, and get yourself another clone for your crusade!” When Rip’s eyes dropped to the ground, Ava’s brow furrowed. She looked to Sara, her rock, who also looked guilty and Ava’s eyes widened with understanding. “Oh, my God. I really wasn’t the first one, was I?”

Sara shook her head softly, her eyes still downcast, before she tried to put a comforting hand on Ava’s back. The taller woman didn’t move away, but she also didn’t make any noticeable movements to acknowledge the pressure. Instead, she never broke eye contact with Rip, who was still looking anywhere but at Ava. He at least abandoned his drink, leaving it on the circular table in the middle of the parlor, before he tapped his fingers across the expanse of wood.

Rip was moving to say something, but Ava cut him off before he could speak., “How many others?”

The man ate his words, sighing heavily before replying, “You’re the twelfth.”

Ava was glad for that hand on her back now. Her entire world careened again, the victor of the dance making itself known as doubt and fear gripped her brain. She wasn’t even his first choice, or second or… She truly was a nobody, a mindless drone among faceless copies. “The twelfth,” she repeated, hollowly. She could feel Sara’s hand moving from her back to squeeze her wrist, trying to comfort and show affection without completely stepping over the director’s boundaries when it came to others in the room, but Ava could barely notice it now. It was harder to hold back the tears, and Ava bit her tongue and locked her jaw to restrain them. She would not cry in front of Rip, she wouldn’t do it in front of Sara again, and her back straightened even further.

“You don’t understand,” Rip said, breaking the silence. He looked to Sara, as if she would rally behind him, before to Ava again. “You are exceptional. Without you the other units wouldn’t-”

“Extremely sorry to interrupt,” Gideon chimed, cutting off Rip’s words.

Sara was annoyed for Ava and she barked, “Gideon, not a good time!”

“As I said, my apologies, Captain. But the anachronism in 2213 has now become a level 12. Just thought you should know.” With that, Gideon seemed to sign off, leaving a deathly silence throughout the room.

Sara cocked her head, her brow furrowed, as she looked squarely to Rip. “You said the anachronism was caused by you returning to 2213.”

“I assumed it was,” Rip said indignantly, a hint of confusion playing at his words.

“Well your assumption was wrong. How the hell could it have jumped from a level 2 to 12?”

“9,” Ava whispered, her head shaking at the vacant tone in her voice. She cleared her throat, trying to bring life back to herself, before she looked to her girlfriend. “The anachronism was a level 2 when you went to Vancouver first. Your presence must have been enough to cause it to jump to a level 9, which is why I was called into it.”

Sara groaned, her body moving away from Ava’s, but her hand still firm against her wrist. She moved back, her free hand in the air as she tried to come up with the reason. “Did we leave anything there?”

“It is so far into the future, it wouldn’t matter if we did,” Rip responded, picking back up the glass and gulping it down.

“Then what the hell caused the massive bump?” Sara growled, looking to Rip now.

He was hiding something, five years of knowing him had told Ava as much, and the two had relayed the information the same to Sara. He was too quiet, too shifty, and his finger tapped impatiently on the glass. When he finally looked up, he did a double take, realizing the women were staring at him expectantly.

“There is a… possibility that Ava’s reintroduction back into the year 2213 has caused our anachronism.”

“Why would that be the reason?” Sara asked before Ava could.

“It was a government facility, it would be insane to think they didn’t have cameras rolling all day. If they had caught Ava walking through the time portal, maybe a scientist realized who she was...”

Rip stopped for far too long, and Ava snapped, “Who I am? A clone?”

The man shook his head violently, his expression one of annoyance. It was almost as if he could not fathom how stupid these women were, but of course could not say as much without receiving bodily harm. Instead he responded with that aggravation, “Not just  _ any _ clone, Ava! You are  _ the _ clone. The one that survived. The last of the Firsts.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Both Ava and Sara asked together.

Rip shook his head again, pushing the glass back onto the table and watching it slide. He straightened and looked them both over thoroughly before he said, “It will not be easy to explain this.”

“Then try,” Ava demanded.

Rip sighed, clapping his hands together, before he belted out, “Alright! I have lied to you for too long, I realize that now.” As he spoke, his hands went to his back, as if he were copying Ava’s usual stance. “But now is not the time to dwell on past mistakes.” With that, Rip made a face as he pulled out a memory eraser from behind his back and pointed it to the women. “Sorry, ladies,” he said, before pulling the trigger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That damn rascal!!! Rip is somethin' else, huh?? I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I'm sorry it's so short. I'll try to kick this illness in the butt so I'm not so exhausted after work so I can write more, and for both fics. Thank you for your continued support, and I really can't wait to hear what you all think!
> 
>  
> 
> Until next time my Avalance subtitties!


	4. Rally the Troops

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The anachronism is holding in level but that's the least of the Legends' worries. Rip is nowhere to be found and another excursion to 2213 is in the making. To save Rip or to end the situation once and for all... no one knows.
> 
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> 
> Oh hey, I'm not dead again! I hope you enjoy this chapter. I finally realized where I wanted to take this story.

A flash of light cascaded through the room before Ava felt her body hit the ground hard. She heard the static of a time portal being opened before her eyes drooped and she swore she lost consciousness. What followed next was a slew of images, jumbled and disjointed. Ava was in a green hospital gown, laying on a table with doctors above her. They all had clipboards and she could hear the insensate scratching of pens on paper. She tried to raise her head to see what was happening, but she couldn’t feel her own body, and what she did feel was painful. She tried to look around, but while her brain screamed with fear, she could not hear herself breathing harder nor could she feel her chest rising to signify what she thought.

“It’s opened its eyes,” a doctor said, pointing his pen far too closely to Ava’s eye. He moved it slowly, and Ava tracked it. Maybe she could somehow make them realize she was conscious, even if her body wouldn’t let her!

Another waved their hand dismissively. “A common occurrence. It means nothing.”

Before she could open her mouth to scream, Ava was in another room, this one stark white, a large one way mirror going the length of the area, and it was guarded. Two men with guns stood at the door watching her as she moved about the place done up to look strangely child-like. The green hospital gown was replaced with a fitted black design, her hair was out and to the side, and she wasn’t wearing any shoes. She picked up different objects, looked them over before matching them with their correct shape- a puzzle box. What she usually would have felt when completing something was absent from her, and she frowned and looked at her hands. These were her fingers, attached to her body; she controlled them. The concept was a foreign one, like something on the tip of the tongue that couldn’t be said, and she continued to look at her fingers like they were some alien that had attached themselves to her.

Someone was about to enter the room, but just as she turned her head to see them, a feeling of familiarity there, Ava was again thrown into another area made up to be a training room. Her garb changed again and she wore a sports bra and loose fitting pants, her hands were not covered in gauze and her knuckles were bloody. She had successfully taken out a man that was twice her size, holding his twisted hand in hers, and Ava didn’t seem to care he was whimpering for mercy. She had him submissive on the ground, but instead of showing him compassion she instead raised her foot and brought it down hard onto his shoulder. His arm snapped out of its socket and then-

“Aves, come on, upsy daisy,” Sara cooed.

Pressure enveloped Ava’s wrists before she felt herself pulled from the ground. She slowly opened her eyes, groaning at the glaring lights in the room, before she focused on Sara. She tried to smile before her memory came back to her. “Where’s Rip?”

“I’m afraid he has taken a time courier and has made his way back to the year 2213,” Gideon answered.

Sara groaned, her fingers brushing across her forehead before she looked to the ceiling. “I thought you said we wouldn’t be affected by the eraser!”

“I did my best, Captain,” Gideon responded, slight indignation in her voice. “I was able to eliminate the memory eradication, just not the unconsciousness bit.”

“How long were we out for?”

“You both have been unconscious for only five minutes.”

Ava shook her head. “That’s not bad. We can still go after him.” She made a face as her body was halted, Sara’s hand on her wrist. “What?”

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea. You heard what Rip said, the anachronism could have been aggravated by your presence there.”

“Sara, you know I can’t just stay on the ship, not again. You almost-”

A softness passed Sara’s features, and the hold on Ava’s wrists loosened. Her voice dropped with it, hesitation and acceptance dripping from her words, “Hey, I’ve already died enough for this lifetime. I’m not planning on it happening again.”

“So let me go with you,” Ava whispered back. “We have no idea what Rip has planned, and from all we know he’s trying to grab another… clone.”

“That reminds me,” Sara said as her brow knit, “Rip said you were special. The last of the Firsts, whatever that is. Gideon, do you have any idea what he could have meant?”

Gideon took a moment to respond before her psychotically chipper tone rang out around the parlor, “There is nothing in history that refers to that statement, Captain.”

“So we’ve got a rogue time agent on our hands and the only thing we’ve got to go off of is a riddle,” Ava said flatly.

“What if it’s not a riddle?” Sara paced the room, her finger to her lips in thought. “What if he meant it literally? You’re the last of the Firsts, the first batch of-”

“Clones,” Ava finished solemnly. “Hate to break it to you, babe, but that doesn’t do much in way of finding Rip or fixing this anachronism. We have to go. Now.”

Ava was punching in the coordinates when Sara quickly walked to her and placed up her hands. “Okay, okay, we’ll go find Rip! But at least let me get the rest of the team together. If the AVA’s are on ‘threat level: kill’ again, they’re going to wipe the floor with just two of us.”

“There’s no time,” Ava breathed, exasperation on her face.

“We’ve got a time courier,” Sara retorted, gently raising Ava’s wrist. “Time is all we’ve got.”

Ava dropped her head before she breathed in deeply. Sara could tell something was still playing at her mind, how could it not with what she found out about herself, but when Ava looked her in the eyes they both knew it would all be okay. “Okay, get the team.”

“You’re not going to regret this,” Sara said, before turning her back on Ava and opening a link to the rest of the crew.

“I know, babe.”  _ I hope not… _

  
  


* * *

 

  
  


Rip Hunter frowned as both women he mentored crashed to the ground. He pressed his hand against his mouth, putting the memory eraser back in his pocket, before he sighed heavily. This was for the best, he knew it and he hoped Sara and Ava did as well. He had never planned to tell Ava what she was until the last possible moment: the moment of the Legends deaths. If they died, there would have been no reason to continue the charade, and he would have taken Ava back to 2213 himself so that she could uncover her true self and win the fight against Mallus. Of course he never thought an anachronism would appear, and now all his plans were thrown at the wall.

He did not say goodbye to Gideon when he created a time portal and walked through it. He didn’t even look back to make sure the two women were not impaired by the hard fall to the ground. Instead he found himself in the pristine creation room. The console Sara had thrown him into only yesterday was switched off, and there were no bodies covered in sheets today. Strangely, there were no extra guards posted anywhere, but best not look a gift horse in the mouth, he thought as he made his way through the facility.

Rip’s obvious knowledge of the layout of AVA Corp was on full display as he scurried through the corridors. There was still not extra security, but his mind was elsewhere when he passed by a room labeled “Development”. Rip nodded at that, a light bulb going off in his head, as he realized he was closer to the chairman’s office than he thought. Rounding the corner, he locked eyes on the plaque that signified it was the room he was looking for, and Rip made a dash for it.

His sprint turned quickly into his face skidding against the cold ground, and his body flipped over on itself so that he was now on his back. Blinking wildly, Rip immediately grabbed his energy revolver and looked around. It was far too late for that, however, and his weapon was yanked from his grasp and two Ava’s pulled him up and pinned him on his knees. Their strong hands were on either shoulder, pushing him down as one jerked his forehead back so that he would be made to look at the man sauntering out of the chairman’s office.

Rip’s eyes widened as he realized who was coming toward him. “You?”

“Oh, don’t look so surprised,” the man said energetically, his natural charisma dripping from him like a faucet. His smile did not leave his face when he looked to either Ava’s and flicked his fingers dismissively. “Take him to detention!”

“How did you know? How are you here!” Rip screamed, kicking and grunting as he was dragged away. One Ava was fed up with his roughhousing and punched him hard in the jaw, making him fall unconscious.

“I bet you would just looove to know.” The man chuckled as he turned back towards his office, pressing a finger to his ear to turn on a communication device. “If he’s not working alone, we’re going to have company soon. Rally the troops...”

 

* * *

 

  
  
  


“Alright, nerds, is everyone caught up?” Sara folded her arms, looking to each and every member of her team.

Mick looked as uninterested as ever, sitting on the steps leading to the parlor with a beer in his hand. Nate’s brow was furrowed as he looked to Ava as if she were an alien, while Ray had a very large, very dorky smile on his features as he stared also. Amaya was at a loss for words at Zari’s side, the latter eating popcorn as she looked to everyone’s faces, before she registered Ava’s insecure expression and snapped out of it.

“Yeah, Cap,” Zari said happily, clapping her hands together to rid them of salt. “So we gotta infiltrate 2213’s biggest corporation, bring Rip back- while opening up a can of whoop-ass on him- to the Waverider. All the while trying to figure out why the anachronism has gotten so whacked, and hope it won’t destroy the very thin layer of time that is currently keeping Mallus at bay. Super straight forward.”

“Incredibly,” Nate said in agreement, his eyes still locked on Ava. When Zari cleared her throat loudly, he snapped out of it and stammered out, “Y-yeah, we s-should definitely get onto that.”

Ray still looked enamored with the possibility of a clone on board, but he too looked a little ashamed for staring. His chipper voice still held that excitement and he said, “So how long has Rip been in 2213 now?”

“Ten minutes and forty-two seconds,” Gideon answered.

Sara sighed. “If he hasn’t portaled back yet that means one of two things: 1. he got captured or 2. he made off with an AVA and he’s somewhere in time suping her up to be-”

“Me,” Ava finished, straightening her back while folding her arms. She shrugged and shook her head at Sara’s expression. “It’s fine, Sara. Right now the mission is what matters. We have to go, now.”

“I’m with Pantsuit,” Mick growled out.

Ava pulled a face, one that questioned if it were best that out of everyone Mick Rory was the one to agree with her, but she smiled and shook her head at that. As long as someone was with her, that’s all that mattered. She knew Sara would be, of course, and she hoped the rest of the Legends chose to rally behind the cause. The way Ray was still glancing up at her, and how Nate looked intrigued yet cautious still made her doubt. A comforting hand was slipped into hers, and it took everything in her not to lean against Sara in front of everyone. This woman… the woman that loved a clone.

“Alright,” Sara called, squeezing Ava’s hand tighter, “grab your hoverboards and your sunglasses because we are going  _ back _ to the future!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awwwww maaaannnn let's go back to the future, y'all!!! Thank you all for your support, and your comments, and just everything. It means SO much to me, and I can't wait to see where you think this is going!
> 
>  
> 
> Until next time my Avalance hottitties


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